Screwmosa Cocktails

Add a little oomph to your next brunch by serving screwmosa cocktails, the delightful offspring of a screwdriver and a mimosa. That’s right orange juice, vodka and sparkling wine!

Screwmosa cocktails should come with a warning, so here it is. These go down toooooooo easy. The bright fresh orange juice tastes like pure sunshine. The sparkling wine tickles your nose and tongue, a party in your mouth. You won’t really taste the vodka, but don’t forget it’s in there!

Screwmosa Cocktails

Ingredients – for 1 Screwmosa Cocktail – serve in a Champagne flute
1 oz or 30ml best quality vodka
2 oz or 60ml chilled fresh squeezed orange juice
3 oz or 90ml chilled brut sparkling wine – or more to top up the glass

Note: One 750ml bottle of sparkling wine holds enough to make eight screwmosa cocktails. To create those eight drinks you will need 8 oz (480ml) vodka and 16 oz (960ml) fresh orange juice.

Method
Add the vodka to your flute, then pour in the orange juice so they mix.

Top up with the brut sparkling wine. I used Prosecco for these but any brut sparkling wine would be delicious.

Enjoy!

This week my Sunday Supper friends are sharing easy drink recipes to celebrate summer. Many thanks to our event manager, Cricket of Cricket's Confections and our host Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures. Let's get this simple cocktail recipe party started!

Classics with a Twist

• Blackberry Gin Mule by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Boozy Rootbeer Float 2 Ways by My Life Cookbook
• Frozen Banana Daiquiri by Restless Chipotle
• Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pimm’s Cup by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Spiked Arnold Palmer Cocktails by Hardly A Goddess
• St. Germain Gin and Tonic Cocktail by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Make Mine a Mocktail

• Dreamsicle Mocktail by The Freshman Cook
• Watermelon Mint Mocktail by Bites of Wellness

Simply Different

• Florida Cider Caipirinha by Gourmet Everyday
• Raspberry Lemon Blush by Our Good Life
• Screwmosa Cocktail by Food Lust People Love
• Skip and Go Naked by Positively Stacey
• Spiked Spa Water by Simple and Savory

Tasty and Tropical

• Blackberry Mojitos by The Chef Next Door
• Fresh Cherry Margaritas by The Crumby Cupcake
• Frozen Peach Margaritas by Pies and Plots
• Perfect Pina Colada by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Pineapple Margaritas by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Prickly Pear Margarita by Palatable Pastime
• Strawberry Sunset Lemon Drop by Soulfully Made

Very Vino

• Boozy Watermelon Slushies by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Cantaloupe Wine Slushie by Family Around the Table
• Cava Sangria by Caroline’s Cooking
• Easy Red Wine Sangria with Spiced Peaches by Cricket’s Confections
• Pink Lemonade Sangria by Baking Sense
• Sparkling Chambord Sangria by Books n’ Cooks
• Watermelon Sangria by A Mind Full Mom

For even more inspiration check out these Simple Mixed Drinks for a Refreshing Summer by Sunday Supper Movement.

 
 

Pin these Screwmosa Cocktails! 

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Pomegranate Braised Short Ribs #FoodieExtravaganza

Pomegranate braised short ribs are tender and rich with the sweet and sour sharpness of the pomegranate molasses perfectly complementing the melt-in-your-mouth beef. You'll want to eat this sauce with a spoon!

Pomegranate molasses is nothing more than pomegranate juice cooked down until it has reduced to the point of being thick and syrupy. If you can’t find any in your local grocery store, it’s easy enough to make at home. Some brands add sugar, which is not necessarily a bad thing if they don’t add too much, but you do want to make sure that the sweet doesn’t overpower the sour. Good pomegranate molasses should have a solid sour punch.

I must confess that although it seems ubiquitous in online recipes lately, I had never heard of pomegranate molasses until just a few years ago, when we moved to Egypt. They have a fabulous dish made with chicken livers, well seasoned with ground spices and quick fried till still pink inside. Just near the end of cooking time, pomegranate molasses is added to the hot pan. It dries up quickly in the high heat and coats the chicken livers with a sticky slick of sweet and sour. Divine. And now I’ve made myself hungry for those again!

Unlike the chicken livers, pomegranate braised short ribs are cooked long and slow, in a lovely mixture of pomegranate molasses, beef stock and fresh rosemary. The succulent rib meat absorbs the flavors of the liquids and releases its own meaty juices into the resulting savory sauce. Serve this over a bed of fluffy couscous, sprinkled with extra pomegranate arils and some chopped cilantro for pop and a fresh bright finish.

Pomegranate Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients – to serve four
2 lbs or about 900g beef short ribs, cut in four pieces
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
13 1/4 oz or 375g small onions, peeled (see tip below) or substitute chopped onions
1 cup or 240ml beef stock
1/2 cup or 120ml pomegranate molasses
3-4 small sprigs fresh rosemary
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut in short pieces

To serve:
Small bunch cilantro, chopped
Some pomegranate arils
Couscous – check out my easy instructions here.

Tip: To peel small or pearl onions, bring a pot of water to the boil. Add the onions and boil for 1-2 minutes. Drain the pot and put the onions in a bowl of cold water and ice to stop the cooking process. Drain again. Cut the ends off of the onions with a sharp knife and squeeze them out of their skins.

Method
Season the short ribs liberally with the salt and pepper. Heat a large pan (that has a tight-fitting lid) over a medium high fire and sear the short ribs on all sides until lovely and golden, starting with the side with the most fat. This will render that fat, helping all of the sides to brown. (If your short ribs don't have much fat, you can add in a little canola or olive oil.)

Remove the ribs from the pan. Add the peeled onions with a splash of the beef stock and sauté them for a minute or two, loosening up the sticky stuff on the pot from the ribs.

Pour in the pomegranate molasses and stir. Put the ribs back in the pot and spoon the pomegranate molasses over them to coat.

Tuck in the rosemary sprigs and pour in the rest of the beef stock. Cover the pot and simmer until the beef short ribs are tender, about 1 1/2 hours, check the liquid level occasionally, adding a little water if necessary.

Baste the ribs with the sauce from time to time and turn them over halfway through.

Add in the carrots and cook, covered until they are tender too, about 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and cook the sauce down until it begins to thicken, spooning the sauce over the ribs occasionally.

Depending on how fatty your short ribs were, you might need to skim some of the fat off of the top of your sauce. If you have time, in fact, you can even chill the dish at this point, making the fat easier to remove once it is cold. If you choose this option, gently rewarm the short ribs in the sauce and continue with the next step before serving.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and pomegranate arils. Serve over couscous.

Enjoy!

This month my Foodie Extravaganza group is celebrating rib recipes. Many thanks to our host, Sneha from Sneha's Recipes for this great theme and all of the behinds-the-scenes work. Who doesn't love ribs, am I right?

• Canh Suon Khoai Tay (Vietnamese Spare Rib Soup) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chinese Spare Ribs (Slow Cooker) by Caroline's Cooking
• Pomegranate Braised Short Ribs by Food Lust People Love
• Singaporean Coffee Spare Ribs by Sneha's Recipe
• Slow Cooker Chinese Spare Ribs by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sticky Pork Ribs by Palatable Pastime

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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How to Cook Couscous + 4 Easy Recipes with Couscous

Tired of rice, potatoes and pasta? Try couscous! It's super easy to make and goes great with a variety of hot dishes. Couscous also makes a great addition to salad. Check out the gorgeous (and healthy) fish steamed on spicy couscous below.

You can find the recipe by clicking here or on the photo above.

First, let me say, that "How to Cook Couscous" is a misnomer here. Although the packaging doesn't necessarily say it, most of the couscous you can buy in a normal grocery store - and the one I use all the time - is instant couscous. Authentic Moroccan couscous takes much longer and is meant to be steamed. For instructions for that method, check out this post on The Spruce.

Instant couscous, on the other hand, takes mere minutes to make, which is why we added it to our family repertoire when we lived in Paris way back in the 1990s. It's been a favorite ever since. Those were the days of a toddler and a newborn, with a big house to keep tidy, laundry to stay on top of and grocery shopping done mostly on foot, with children in tow.

If there were ever a time when a busy parent needed instant couscous, that was it. I could cook couscous and add in a some frozen peas with the hot water (for color and nutrition!) and the toddler was happy to call that lunch. Of course, we didn't call them peas. It was Couscous with Little Green Balls, a happy, fun dish, beloved by all. Sometimes I used chicken stock in place of the water (and eliminated the salt) to add even more flavor.

Tip: If you don't use couscous very often, store it in a sealed bag your freezer. This will stop it from getting a stale or slightly rancid flavor.

Ingredients - for 4 cups of couscous
2 cups or 370g wheat couscous – medium grain
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
Just boiled water to cover - a good rule of thumb is about 1- 1 1/4 cups water for each cup of couscous. So for 2 cups of couscous, add 2 - 2 1/2 cups of water, depending on if you like it drier and fluffier or a little more moist. Either way, it should still fluff up.

Method
Put the couscous in a bowl with the salt and butter. Add enough hot - but not quite boiling - water to cover it. Give the whole thing a quick stir, then seal the top of the bowl with cling film and then drape a towel over the top and set aside for at least 10 minutes. Or laissez gonfler - leave it to swell - as the French say.

The couscous will soften and double in size. When it's done, fluff it with a fork and keep covered till needed.

Now you know how to cook couscous. Wasn't that easy?

Use it to make the steamed fish with spicy couscous pictured at the top or serve warm with the Butterflied Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon, below. All the lovely lemony drippings off the golden roasted chicken add even more flavor to the couscous on the plate.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken with Couscous

This Moroccan Style Lentil Chickpea Stew is also a winner served with couscous.

Moroccan Style Lentil and Chickpea Stew

Or let your couscous cool and add it to a dressed salad with pan-fried chicken and broccoli that's filling enough to be the meal!

Broccoli Chicken Couscous Salad with Radishes and Tomatoes

What are your favorite dishes to serve with couscous?